Publisher: YouTube

What do cultural relevance, empowerment and mobile all have in common? Each is a prominent theme throughout the 2016 Year-End YouTube Ads Leaderboard - our annual look at the most watched and engaging ads of the year globally. Once again, advertisers delivered spots that took us on a rollercoaster of emotions, ranging from laughter to inspiration to "awwww...," compelling viewers to both watch and share. As we reflect on this year's list,

2016 was the year of the challenge. You did the running man , you caught 'em all , you took a moment to stand still , you layered ' and layered ' and layered . We think it's fair to say, you crushed it . Now 2016 is coming to an end, and you know what that means ' it's time for #YouTubeRewind. This year, more than 200 YouTube stars from 18 countries accepted our Ultimate 2016 Rewind Challenge to pay homage to the biggest videos, memes, channels, songs,

Last year was a bright one for music"after several tough years of declining revenues, the industry started growing again , spurred in large part by the growth of music streaming subscriptions. This year, the industry has even more reasons to be optimistic. Even as music subscriptions have been growing faster than any other subscription type, advertising is another powerful driver of revenue. In fact, in the last 12 months,

Back in 2010, we enabled 4K video support for the very first time. Since then, millions of videos have been uploaded at that eye-popping resolution, making YouTube's the largest library of 4K videos online. Today, we're proud to say that we're taking 4K video one step further with the launch of 4K live streaming for both 360-degree videos and standard videos. Supporting this new format will let creators and partners stream incredibly high-resolution video,

Since we launched YouTube Kids less than two years ago, we've seen families across the globe download the app tens of millions of times and rank it consistently among the top 5 apps in the App Store and give it an overall 4+ ranking on Google Play. Along the way, we've also received helpful feedback from parents on how we can make the app even better. Parents have told us they want more control over how their kids watch content in the YouTube Kids app. Today,

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog It's Election Day Eve, the day before before millions of people across the U.S. will head to the polls and cast votes for their elected officials. But before you get to the ballot box - and head out with that sticker! - check Google to get the information on where to vote and election results. Starting when the polls close on Election Day, you will be able to find U.S.

We're inspired every day by the videos people share on YouTube. The idea that anybody, from any part of the globe, can create something that all of us can watch, laugh at, cry to, or relate to. Not only has this turned YouTube into a home for just about any idea imaginable, it's made it the place where new video formats , new ways to connect , and new ways to tell stories are born.

We believe in the power of video at YouTube. It's what allows for the creativity, connection, and fun that brings together our community of creators and viewers. And over the last 11 years, we've worked hard to push the boundaries of online video. We've added product features and made new video and audio formats available to everyone, from HD to 4K video, live streaming, 3D, 360-degree video, and spatial audio.

Sound the horns! The King has declared a tournament to host the most skilled Clash Royale players in the land. Who among you can beat his champions and take the King's Cup? We are proud to present the King's Cup Live on YouTube Gaming , a first-of-its-kind major tournament event featuring the second largest mobile title on YouTube this year, Clash Royale. The tournament will take place on Sunday, November 6, live in Los Angeles with a prize pool of $100,000.

Diversity is our nation's strength, yet in America today, we are seeing new levels of fear and misunderstanding. It's never been more important to sit down and listen to each other - hear each other's stories, learn about what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes, and remember what makes us unique and what we all have in common. That's why we launched our YouTube Creators for Change program back in September,

From candidates announcing their run for office to the political conventions , you've come to YouTube to get informed on the U.S. election. In fact, over the past few weeks you spent over 20 million hours watching - and rewatching - the presidential debate live streams on YouTube. That's the equivalent of over 2,288 years of time! With just over a week until election day, all eyes are on the candidates as they work to earn your vote. As in 2012,

Today is a big day for music in Germany. YouTube has reached a landmark agreement with the Germany-based music rights organization, GEMA, meaning that starting today, more music will be available on YouTube in Germany. This is a win for music artists around the world, enabling them to reach new and existing fans in Germany, while also earning money from the advertising on their videos. And for YouTube users in Germany,

This year, more news organizations live streamed the U.S. presidential debates on YouTube than ever before, and we saw record-breaking interest from the YouTube community. The 2016 presidential debates rank as the three most-viewed political live streams of all time. In total, these debates drove 8.5M live watch hours and averaged 1.7M live peak concurrent viewers. Last night's final presidential debate delivered: 2.8M live watch hours, nearly five times higher than 2012 1.

With just 22 days remaining, the U.S. presidential election is top of mind for voters across the country. Over the past three debates you've come to YouTube to follow live coverage from more news organizations than ever before. And Wednesday's third and final debate will be no exception. Pick your favorite news channel and tune in to the debate starting at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 19.

Nine years ago, YouTube launched its Partner Program with the goal of helping creators earn advertising revenue while connecting their innovative content to audiences around the world. Every year, more and more brands are making YouTube essential to their marketing strategy. In fact, in the last year alone, the top 100 advertisers have increased their spend on YouTube video ads by 50 percent. As brands continue to embrace the value of YouTube,

Sunday's highly-anticipated debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew new levels of interest from the YouTube community. The closely watched live debate and on-demand videos surrounding it generated over 124M views since Sunday, representing a 40 percent increase compared to the first presidential debate, which drove 88M views. Of course many viewers came to YouTube to watch the debate live and we saw over 1.5M peak concurrent viewers,

As U.S. voters prepare to head to the polls in just over a month, all eyes are on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they debate for a second time - and like the last two debates, you can head to YouTube to watch the candidates take the stage. Just choose a news channel on YouTube and join us live from St. Louis, Mo., on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET: NBC News CBS News Fox News PBS Washington Post Univision Telemundo Stay up to speed on U.S. election news, including live coverage,

After last week's record-breaking presidential debate , Americans are gearing up to hear from the vice presidential nominees in the only debate where they'll face off - and you'll be able to follow all the action live on YouTube! Whether you're watching from your smartphone or your smart TV, head to YouTube tonight at 9 p.m. ET and choose your favorite news channel, which will bring you live coverage from Farmville, Va.

YouTube is where music lovers dig deep for music videos, live performances, and new songs that move them. YouTube Red makes music on YouTube even better, letting you play songs ad free, in the background, offline, and more. Now with YouTube Red and Google Home , you can fill your home with more songs, more versions, and more dance parties. Google Home, a voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant, is available for pre-order today.

Last night's debate marked the largest political live stream of all time and was one of the biggest live streams in YouTube history. This record-breaking political stream garnered nearly 2 million live concurrent viewers and 3 million live watch hours across the six news organizations that streamed the debate on YouTube. To put these numbers into context, we took a look at 2012 debate viewership on YouTube. Compared to 2012, last night's debate had 14x larger live viewership,